Monday, September 03, 2007

Play & Learn with Infocomm

Karim Rahemtulla is the Knowledge Oasis Muscat-based Singaporean entrepreneur and a leading WiFi and mobile marketing specialist, behind the top-flight m-Commerce firm, Infocomm, and the Gulf region’s first value-add infotainment portal - isurf.co.om

Rahemtulla is enthusiastic about Infocomm’s participation at this year’s GITEX exhibition. “This is a huge boost for us,” said Rahemtulla. “GITEX provides us with a world-class profiling opportunity and a chance to expand our current client base by meeting potential customers from across the Middle East and North Africa, all under one roof.”

Infocomm will be exhibiting its existing products as well as a range of new e-Learning and e-Gaming solutions and demonstrating high speed WiFi internet access and mobile marketing services. “We had a tremendous show last year signing a major deal with Saudi Arabia’s ISP 7i and we look forward to repeating that success this year,” Rahemtulla said.

The Infocomm team is particularly excited about advergaming and will be demonstrating how the mobile medium can be used to market and brand products and services. “Advergaming is the new hot topic and it’s moving from the Web to the mobile and we’re eager to share its possibilities with our clients in the region,” remarked Rahemtulla. He went on to explain how the roster of companies that are relying on Web and mobile-based games to generate marketing buzz, or recently have done so, include Nokia, which fielded an online curling game as part of its sponsorship of the Canadian Men's Curling Championship; Fox Sports, with a World Series game in which visitors tried to "hit" a virtual ball out of a virtual stadium; a mobile video game on Audi’s website that allows players to download the Audi Q7 game coupled with Audi Q7 logos; and a coalition of major fast-food restaurant chains and packaged-food companies, including McDonald's and Kraft, that seeks to help curb childhood obesity by offering kids online games that teach nutritional concepts at a new site called Kidnetic.com.

Infocomm is developing in partnership with Nexgen, Singapore’s leading mobile and PC game developers, a number of advergaming solutions. “In this regard, I’m confident that tech savvy marketers will be interested in exploring what advergaming and Infocomm can do for their brand,” commented Rahemtulla.

In addition to the advergaming concept Infocomm will also be showcasing e-Learning solutions from Educomp, one of India’s top 10 companies. Educomp is estimated to be working with 3.6 million learners across Asia and the US and has a presence in over 6,400 schools. “Educomp packages cover a raft of subjects that include physics, chemistry, English, French, geography and mathematics, “they’re highly interactive and the graphics are outstanding,” says Rahemtulla. Indeed, online education is growing rapidly in the Middle East. For example, the market in Saudi Arabia alone is expected to increase at a compound average growth rate of 32%. “The region’s expanding academic sector represents a substantial market for e-Learning, from secondary to tertiary and we’re keen to capitalize on these opportunities,” says the Singaporean entrepreneur.